Russia 'disappointed' but won't retaliate over Obama snub

Barack Obama says he will not meet Vladimir Putin during a trip to Russia next month.

Reuters: Kevin Lamarque

Russia says it would not retaliate over US president Barack Obama's decision to cancel a high-profile meeting in Moscow with Vladimir Putin over a range of disputes.

The Russian president's top foreign policy aide said Moscow hoped that contacts between the two former Cold War foes would resume shortly, after relations plunged to their one of their lowest levels in the past 20 years.

"We have received this calmly and know that sooner or later contacts will be resumed," Kremlin foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

"How would we retaliate? We said we were disappointed but emphasised the invitation remains in force."

The summit with Mr Putin was cancelled shortly after Russia awarded a one-year asylum visa to the US intelligence leader Edward Snowden - a fugitive whose extradition Washington had sought for weeks.

The 30-year-old is wanted in the United States on espionage charges related to his disclosure of classified secrets of high-tech US surveillance programmes.

Mr Obama will still be joining other world leaders in Saint Petersburg for September's G20 summit that Mr Putin will be hosting in his native city.

The US president's direct meeting with Mr Putin had initially been due to be held in Moscow in the run-up to the Saint Petersburg talks.

Mr Ushakov said no bilateral meeting between the two leaders is currently planned at the G20.

The White House had stressed that its decision to abandon the talks with Putin was linked not only with the Snowden case but also a range of other irreconcilable differences with the Kremlin that include the crisis in Syria.

The White House stressed on Thursday that its contacts with Moscow would not halt completely despite the bilateral summit's cancellation.

The two countries' foreign and defence chiefs will meet in Washington later on Friday for talks likely to focus on Syria and European missile defence - a meeting that both sides said should go ahead despite the most recent spat.

Mr Ushakov said Moscow "was prepared to work with Washington on all issues - both bilateral and international ones".

"Whether President Obama comes or not, we will still be working using other channels," Mr Ushakov said.